//------------------------------// // 4 - Comforts // Story: What You Deserve // by DarkHooves //------------------------------// “We’re here!” Sunset stopped in front of one of the buildings. It didn’t look anything special. In fact, except from the slightly different colour, Cozy couldn’t differentiate it from any of the other buildings they had passed until now. Still carrying her on her back, Sunset walked through the entrance and a flight of stairs until they ended up in front of a door with Sunset’s name written on a piece of tape over the mail drop. “I need to unlock it,” Sunset said. “Are you okay standing on your own?” Cozy yawned and nodded. The apartment was pretty much exactly how she imagined it to be. The front door opened into a small living/kitchen/dining area combo furnished only by a sofa standing in front of a small table and a weird black box on the left side, and a dining table with chairs in the far right in front of the kitchen portion. Some paint cans and a couple of cardboard boxes littered the floor to the left of her. The thought hit her that Sunset may not be a jailor at all. Maybe she was just a fellow prisoner who was forced to take care of her. The overall look of the place certainly reflected it. Noticing her judgemental expression, Sunset gave her an apologetic look. “I know it looks bad... After I started repainting the walls, I only moved the essential furniture here. Most of my stuff’s at my old apartment.” “So I get to live in this dump while you go back to your real home,” Cozy summarised. “Got it.” “Of course not,” Sunset replied with a smile. “I’ll live her too!” “But you just said--” “I said I only moved the essentials. The rest is coming here too. Soon as I finish painting the old walls.” Sunset pointed at the wall to the left, which was a different, much uglier colour. “Then why not just keep everything in the old apartment? Why get this one at all?” “Because it wasn’t big enough,” Sunset explained. “It was only a one bedroom studio apartment, barely large enough for me.” She clapped her hands. “Now, before I show you around, I’d like to ask if you’re hungry.” Cozy shrugged and mumbled something non-committing. It was true that she was hungry. She hadn’t eaten anything since this morning, and even then, it hadn’t been much. But she wouldn’t admit that to Sunset. She’d probably force her to make her own food. “Well I’m starving,” Sunset declared and pulled out a flat, stone-looking thing from her pocket. “I’m thinking pizza, unless you dislike cheese or tomatoes?” Cozy shrugged again. She didn’t know what pizza was, but it couldn’t be worse than the slop they gave her in the Canterlot dungeons. “Great!” Sunset kept playing with the thing some more before returning it to her pocket. ”Well, you’ve pretty much seen everything in the living area. Let’s show you the rest of the building!” Sunset lead her into a hallway with two doors on each side. The first one to the left was the bathroom where she explained how to use everything in embarrassingly thorough detail. The second one was a small storage room. “The ones on the right are the bedrooms,” Sunset explained and opened them. “I didn’t know which one you’d like so I kept them exactly the same. Which one would you--?” “I don’t care,” Cozy interrupted and walked into the one closest to her. The room was completely empty, save for the bed standing at the end of the room under its only window. “Then this will be your room,” Sunset said “I want you feel safe here, so I won’t be entering unless you give me permission, and I ask that you show me the same treatment. If you ever feel like getting away – either from me or anything else – you can lock the door like this.” She showed how the mechanism worked. “Just give me a heads up if I call for you, so I know you’re safe.” “Gee, thanks.” Cozy gestured to the big, empty space. “I’ll be sure to spend as much time in here as I possibly can…” Sunset looked devastated. “Forgive me for showing it to you like this... I wanted to get this ready before you got here, but I didn’t have enough time to set this up.” She put a hand on Cozy’s shoulder. “But I promise I’ll help you make it just the way you want it! You can pick any colour you want the walls to be, and tomorrow I thought we could buy all the things that you’ll need. And if you see some that you’d like, we’ll get it!” Cozy just rolled her eyes. Again with the pretending… The doorbell sounded before she could voice any concerns. Sunset immediately walked to the door. Cozy waited a few seconds before following. When she made her way to the living area, Sunset had already closed the door, holding two flat, white boxes in her arms. “What’s that?” Cozy asked. “It’s the pizza!” Sunset carried the boxes to the kitchen area and put them down on the dining table. “I ordered you a plain Margherita one,” she said as she brought out a knife and began to slice each into smaller pieces. Cozy sat down and stared at the strange smelling food. “What is it?” “It’s bread with tomato sauce and melted cheese on top!” Sunset picked up a slice of her pizza, rolled it up and wolfed it down in seconds. Cozy awkwardly picked up one of the smaller slices and rolled it up just like Sunset had. Taking a small bite of it, she couldn’t stop her eyes from widening. It actually tasted really good! “See?” Sunset smiled. “Eat as much as you like, but try not to make yourself sick. There’s no shame in leaving some for later.” She got started on her next slice. “Infact, that’s the beauty of pizza.” Cozy carefully took another bite. There had to be a catch somewhere… Maybe she was about to get poisoned? Something that only started working after you’ve ingested enough. “But if you’re still hungry afterwards, I got ice cream in the freezer.” Yep. It’s poison alright. Why else would you ever give a prisoner ice cream?